The Trump administration is planning a "white discrimination" probe at colleges, targeting affirmative action policies designed to bring more minority students to universities, The New York Times reported.

According to an internal document to the Justice Department's civil rights division obtained by the Times, the new project is recruiting lawyers for "investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions."

The Times said the document appears to indicate the project would be run out of the civil rights division's front office instead of its Educational Opportunities Section, giving Trump's political appointees the lead in it.

"The civil rights laws were deliberately written to protect everyone from discrimination, and it is frequently the case that not only are whites discriminated against now, but frequently Asian-Americans are as well," said Roger Clegg, president of the conservative Center for Equal Opportunity, who called the move "welcomed" and "long overdue."

Proponents and opponents of the reported new probe told the Times that it was clearly going after admissions programs that can give members of generally disadvantaged groups, like African-Americans and Latino students, an edge over other applicants with comparable or higher test scores.

Sherrilyn Ifill, president and director-counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund told CNN her organization would challenge such a program if it came to pass.

"From Brown v. Board of Education to Fisher v. UT Austin, (Legal Defense and Educational Fund) has fought to ensure that every child is afforded an equal opportunity to succeed, and we will bring the full force of the law if this Justice Department attempts to re-segregate our institutions of higher learning."

The Justice Department declined comment, the Times and CNN said.

Last year, the U.S. Supreme Court turned back a challenge to race-conscious admissions programs at the University of Texas in a 4-3 vote involving plaintiff Abigail Fisher, USA Today reported then. The ruling ensured that college admissions officials could continue to consider race as one among numerous factors in ensuring a diverse student body, the newspaper noted.

The Trump administration is planning a "white discrimination" probe at colleges, targeting affirmative action policies designed to bring more minority students to universities, The New York Times reported.